Loss is on Bettcher

[CFLredzoned]

I wasn't as discouraged by lack of pressure as most. You have to remember that's NE's MO - to get rid of the ball before the pressure has time to get to the QB. No team gets rid of the ball faster. What was it, like .37 secs average? That's just not enough time to get to him. I actually like what I saw from the front. They looked pretty disruptive to me. Campbell was unblockable. Jones had a sack. They had the strip sack. They got 2 turnovers. I think this one was on the secondary to stop the short quick passes. Everybody knew that was going to be their game plan.

 

[JC_AZ]

Did Chandler and RK both get in on the same play sets? Could not watch the game in Sicily

 

[TJ]

Sorry, but I'm missing the point of what Caucasian has to do with anything.

It was in jest. Common narrative for NE receivers is that they are short, white guys who can catch and run. I'm sorry if you were offended, but it was not malicious.

 

[MrYeahBut]

It was in jest. Common narrative for NE receivers is that they are short, white guys who can catch and run. I'm sorry if you were offended, but it was not malicious.

Not offended, just didn't understand, all good.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I can't put everything on Bettcher but he clearly lost the chess match with Josh McDaniels.

When Bettcher finally blitzed Jeff had a screen called.

Bettcher decides to rush 3 on 3rd and 23. JG had 20 minutes to find a receiver and he did.

Not Bettcher's best game.

 

[TJ]

Not offended, just didn't understand, all good.

 

[Russ Smith]

I can't put everything on Bettcher but he clearly lost the chess match with Jeff Daniels.

When Bettcher finally blitzed Jeff had a screen called.

Bettcher decides to rush 3 on 3rd and 23. JG had 20 minutes to find a receiver and he did.

Not Bettcher's best game.

The 3rd and 23 was crazy, and a great play by JG. Chandler Jones was one step away from getting a big hit on him before he got rid of the ball but he moved just enough to delay it so the hit came after he released it.

And the long run for a first where PP missed the tackle that was a backbreaker play too.

I think as Harry said we had to go zone to protect Brandon Williams and it let to lots of our problems against their style of offense. Catch 22 if we stay man they might pick on Williams all night.

That has always been the philosophy of their offense find the mismatch and exploit it. What I thought was REALLY scary that nobody seems to be talkign about is how they exploited it. Hogan is at least a 4th year guy with now 90 career catches but we're talking a guy from Monmouth here making Williams look that bad. And the other catch and long run was by a rookie WR Malcolm Mitchell a 4th round pick from Georgia. it's not like that was Edelman or Amendola ore some of the guys he'll see coming up.

You can bet TB and Winston are licking their chops about going after him.

 

[Garthshort]

Only thing I'll say in Bettcher's defense is that he doesn't seem to have any help from the defensive coaches. On the offensive side, Godwin has BA and Tom Moore for "words of wisdom". So my question is, do we have any up and coming coaches on the defensive side?

 

[Mitch]

Only thing I'll say in Bettcher's defense is that he doesn't seem to have any help from the defensive coaches. On the offensive side, Godwin has BA and Tom Moore for "words of wisdom". So my question is, do we have any up and coming coaches on the defensive side?

Garth, the Cardinals' linebackers' coach Bob Sanders was the Packers' defensive coordinator for three years (2006-2008)...he has 16 years of NFL experience.

The wild card, imo, on the defensive staff, is inside LBs coach Larry Foote, who knows the 34 defense, both from his years playing under Dick LeBeau and in playing for Todd Bowles' tweaked version of it in AZ.

The coach of the secondary, Nick Rapone, has over 30 years of college experience, many years serving as Delaware's defensive coordinator (he was named Coordinator of the Year in Division 1-AA in 2010). He is now in his 4th year of coaching with the Cardinals.

Kevin Ross, CBs coach, has 11 years of coaching CBs in the NFL and was a 2 time Pro-Bowler with the Chiefs.

Pass rush coach, Tom Pratt...is the Tom Moore of the defense...38 years of NFL experience who coached in Super Bowl ! with the Chiefs.

What would be very curious to know is how well received Bettcher is amongst these defensive coaches, because, quite frankly, all of them are more qualified to be the DC, based on coaching experience and years playing or coaching in the NFL.

Surprise coaching promotions like BA's of Bettcher can lead to internal division and dysfunction---even more so when apparently BA is giving Bettcher orders, like telling Bettcher not to go into the prevent on Aaron Rodgers' hail mary and like telling Bettcher to switch almost exclusively to zone coverage versus the Patriots.

BA would be naive to think that the coaches he passed over for the job would be "all in" with Bettcher.

Look at how LaMarr Woodley reacted to Bettcher's sudden decision to change the defense for the Panthers' game. Imagine what the defensive coaches thought of that move. There's an old saying in coaching---"do what you do best and don't abandon it."

However, for all we know it could have been BA telling Bettcher to change the defense for the Panthers. Maybe that's why BA wanted to promote Bettcher because of anyone Bettcher would not put up a fuss if BA wanted to pull the strings.

As I have said in other posts, I do not blame Bettcher. The onus of the decision to make Bettcher the surprise choice for DC (when there were more experienced candidates on the staff and, alas, coaches like Dick LeBeau and Wade Phillips were available) is all on BA and SK.

Remember that BA wanted to hire LeBeau as Bettcher's assistant?

What a joke.

 

[JeffGollin]

I'd have to say that Bettcher was outcoached, but that could be true of the other 30 DC's in the league.

And Bettcher's being outcoached by the NE coaches doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad DC - just that he didn't outsmart a very competent NE coaching staff.

Apparently, Belichick is very good at (1) figuring out what his guys have to do to beat his opponent, (2) keeping things as simple as possible to that end and (3) making the other team play close-to mistake-free football in order to beat you.

Cards made mistakes. Cards were out-executed technique-wise. NE exploited glaring weaknesses (as in Brandon Wiiliams).

Given the injury situation at corner, Bettcher had to play Williams. He wasn't the holder on the botched FG. He and his assistants should be held acountable for poor tackling/execution, but there comes a point where the players we've got/not Bettcher - have to make those plays.

Bottom-line: Losing that game took a team-effort.

 

[az jam]

How many 3rd and long did his defensive calls allow to convert? I'm one to normally blame the player for execution but his defensive play calling was abysmal. He sat back in soft zones against a first time starter way too often. Josh McDaniel owned his ass.

Ron Jaws agrees with you. When talking to Burns and Gambo this week, he said the Cards were outcoached. He was referring to McDaniels game plan and the lack of adjustments by the Cards defense. The is definitely on Bettcher.

 

[SeattleCard]

Bettcher proved he was slow on adjustments last year. Not sure what BA sees in him but he is not giving us an advantage..

 

[TJ]

Bettcher proved he was slow on adjustments last year. Not sure what BA sees in him but he is not giving us an advantage..

He made some in game adjustments in the 2nd half (blitzes, Stunts, etc.) but the issue was poor tackling. Two less missed tackles in the game and we squeak it out.

 

[daves]

Funny, i read somewhere (at least here - haven't looked for original source) that Bettcher is the one who was responsible for planning halftime defensive adjustments under Bowles. And that Arians took responsibility for telling Bettcher to play too much zone in the Patriots game? Wasn't the Cardinals D in the top 5 last year, similar to 5th-7th under Bowles, and much better than the mid-pack finish in Horton's last year?

Now people are opining that Bettcher is inept at making adjustments, and responsible for poor tackling, that half of the staff working under him is more qualified to be a DC... so apparently Arians is a buffoon who can't recognize who's qualified to run his D. Someone even said we should have got Horton back.

Perhaps people are over-reacting to one loss?

...dbs

 

[Darkside]

Funny, i read somewhere (at least here - haven't looked for original source) that Bettcher is the one who was responsible for planning halftime defensive adjustments under Bowles. And that Arians took responsibility for telling Bettcher to play too much zone in the Patriots game? Wasn't the Cardinals D in the top 5 last year, similar to 5th-7th under Bowles, and much better than the mid-pack finish in Horton's last year?

Now people are opining that Bettcher is inept at making adjustments, and responsible for poor tackling, that half of the staff working under him is more qualified to be a DC... so apparently Arians is a buffoon who can't recognize who's qualified to run his D. Someone even said we should have got Horton back.

Perhaps people are over-reacting to one loss?

...dbs

Great post. I was just getting ready to post something similar, albeit much less interesting than what you posted.

People get their panties in a wad anytime we lose. We would have the same glaring holes and these same mofos would be fine had we won. The weaknesses are still there, the only question is does it get exposed in week 1 or week 10?

Apparently, some people would rather just fake it with a great record and be exposed in week 10. We have no shot then, no way to fix it, no way to hide it. You get exposed like that later in the year and you're toast.

Our defense was one of the best in the league last year. Top 10 in all polls and top 5 in many. You willing to trade that history in because of one bad game?

Ya'll are the same people who beat Bowles up when he first got here. Calling him Bowels and such. Then you turned into Bowel lovers. The Bettcher hate needs to stop, he's working with what he's given as far as talent and as far as game-planning. As bad as you think he did, we still had a chance to win that game.

 

[cardncubfan]

Great post. I was just getting ready to post something similar, albeit much less interesting than what you posted.

People get their panties in a wad anytime we lose. We would have the same glaring holes and these same mofos would be fine had we won. The weaknesses are still there, the only question is does it get exposed in week 1 or week 10?

Apparently, some people would rather just fake it with a great record and be exposed in week 10. We have no shot then, no way to fix it, no way to hide it. You get exposed like that later in the year and you're toast.

Our defense was one of the best in the league last year. Top 10 in all polls and top 5 in many. You willing to trade that history in because of one bad game?

Ya'll are the same people who beat Bowles up when he first got here. Calling him Bowels and such. Then you turned into Bowel lovers. The Bettcher hate needs to stop, he's working with what he's given as far as talent and as far as game-planning. As bad as you think he did, we still had a chance to win that game.

I think you can make your point without belittling other posters. Jmho.

 

[Darkside]

I think you can make your point without belittling other posters. Jmho.

That's fair, but I didn't belittle anyone.

 

[Cardiac]

Funny, i read somewhere (at least here - haven't looked for original source) that Bettcher is the one who was responsible for planning halftime defensive adjustments under Bowles. And that Arians took responsibility for telling Bettcher to play too much zone in the Patriots game? Wasn't the Cardinals D in the top 5 last year, similar to 5th-7th under Bowles, and much better than the mid-pack finish in Horton's last year?

Now people are opining that Bettcher is inept at making adjustments, and responsible for poor tackling, that half of the staff working under him is more qualified to be a DC... so apparently Arians is a buffoon who can't recognize who's qualified to run his D. Someone even said we should have got Horton back.

Perhaps people are over-reacting to one loss?

...dbs

Awesome Post!!!!!

I read posts on here that Bettcher screwed up by leaving Williams on an Island and BA takes the heat for telling his DC to go to zone more often. So is BA lying to cover for Bettcher or is he clueless to when his team is in zone coverage or is it maybe fans not really knowing what's going on but they get to call the DC a bum?

Yes Daniels had a great game plan but they did only score 23 points which our Offense absolutely should over come based on the talent on that side of the ball.

I'll agree it is torture to watch your team give up all those 3rd down conversions but as some have pointed out several of those we because the players missed tackles etc.

 

[Garthshort]

Thanks for all the responses, especially the one from Mitch. Seems that we do have a lot of talent on the coaching (def) staff.

 

[Stout]

That's fair, but I didn't belittle anyone.

lol Sure you did--or you tried to do. All the tongue in cheek stuff implying people critical of Bettcher are just haters that don't know any better. I mean, you were off base, but you truly tried

Bettcher sucked last year, too--our offense just glazed the fact over by scoring so many points. He couldn't make adjustments last year either, nor did he dial up decent blitzes often times. Unlike Bowles, he doesn't seem to be learning, which is the most troubling part of the equation.

I believe someone mentioned, on this thread or another, that it's better to have our glaring weaknesses exposed early rather than when it's too late to do anything about. Well...

 

[GuernseyCard]

lol Sure you did--or you tried to do. All the tongue in cheek stuff implying people critical of Bettcher are just haters that don't know any better. I mean, you were off base, but you truly tried

Bettcher sucked last year, too--our offense just glazed the fact over by scoring so many points. He couldn't make adjustments last year either, nor did he dial up decent blitzes often times. Unlike Bowles, he doesn't seem to be learning, which is the most troubling part of the equation.

I believe someone mentioned, on this thread or another, that it's better to have our glaring weaknesses exposed early rather than when it's too late to do anything about. Well...

Last year, "sucky" Bettcher led a defence that gave up less than 20 points a game. Top 5.

 

[SO91]

Last year, "sucky" Bettcher led a defence that gave up less than 20 points a game. Top 5.

And how did that defense look against any of the good teams we played? It's easier to play D when your offense is blowing out the other team.

 

[GuernseyCard]

And how did that defense look against any of the good teams we played? It's easier to play D when your offense is blowing out the other team.

Good offensive teams score more. That's a given. There were more than a few good defensive teams that had miserable days against the Cards last season. On the year, we scored 30 and gave up 19. Do it again, and there's a good chance, we'll be at the final dance.

 

[Stout]

And how did that defense look against any of the good teams we played? It's easier to play D when your offense is blowing out the other team.

+1

 

[WisconsinCard]

Bettcher sucked last year, too--our offense just glazed the fact over by scoring so many points. He couldn't make adjustments last year either, nor did he dial up decent blitzes often times. Unlike Bowles, he doesn't seem to be learning, which is the most troubling part of the equation.

Not singling you out Stout, but this is the most regurgitated pile of crap that is being spewed. I got tired of looking at last years first half stats VS second half stats, but I can truly say that adjustments were made. It has also been reported that Bettcher help or made most of the half time adjustments when Bowels was the DC. So lets stop this nonsense, just because one person says it, doesn't make it true.